Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

I had a medical collection $279 from 8/2012 and was able to negotiate a PFD with over the phone 4/10/2013, experian deleted within 2 weeks.

I had a medical collection of $50 show up 4/15/2013 from a different company which is from the samevisit last year. Apparently first bill was for the doctor only. I did receive that bill and I forgot about it which is why it went into collections. This second bill I had no knowledge of at all. I called NPAS they had my address but no apartment number, manager said they did not call me because amount was so small. They let it sit at their office 90 days with no attempt to collect and then reported. NPAS refuses to delete even though they made an error in billing. I paid Methodist Hospital the $50 but did not ask them to retract account from collections. What can I do?

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

I have six accounts that I've just started to work on and I'm still so confused about how to go about squaring things away and having the status changed on my report. I just paid a balance in full with Portfolio Recovery and requested to also have the status deleted from my report, but was told that they can't do that. The supervisor I spoke with told me that only the credit reporting agency can delete a negative report. Is that true? My understanding is that the collection agency reports the debt to the credit report agencies--if they're doing the reporting, why can't they delete it?

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

kirkland500 wrote:

I have six accounts that I've just started to work on and I'm still so confused about how to go about squaring things away and having the status changed on my report. I just paid a balance in full with Portfolio Recovery and requested to also have the status deleted from my report, but was told that they can't do that. The supervisor I spoke with told me that only the credit reporting agency can delete a negative report. Is that true? My understanding is that the collection agency reports the debt to the credit report agencies--if they're doing the reporting, why can't they delete it?

So you paid them before requestin in exchange that the derog be removed?

Technically, that is correct: only credit reporting agencies can change the report. However, they will report and change whatever according to the directions of the collection agency, original creditor, etc.

So, in the past, what I have done is:

1) sent a PFD letter to collection agency requesting that if I PFD, the derogatory line item will be deleted or changed to show no deliquency

2) once receiving the confirmation of the terms acceptance (delete for being paid in full), I send a certified bank check to the CA

3) with the certified bank check, I send a follow-up letter thanking them for working with me and for deleting the derogatory remark off my credit report

4) after waiting about 10 days, I see if the derogatory is removed; if not, I follow up with CA to request that it be done

In only one case, have I turned things over to the attorney general and written to the federal government... with great success, I might add

Best,

Hope

----

This is a letter I sent PFD, and the derogs were removed immediately.

May 2, 2011

Global Payments Check Recovery Services, Inc.

6215 W. Howard St.

Niles, IL 60714

Re: Collection Accounts for Gas Station

Account #: xxxxxxx5 - $$

Account #: xxxxxxx9 - $$

Account #: xxxxxxx7 - $$

Account #: xxxxxxx9 - $$

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to try and settle accounts included in my Chapter 7 bankruptcy which was fully discharged on May 25, 2010.

In the spirit of goodwill, I am asking to pay these accounts IN FULL if you agree to immediate deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from my credit files. It is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form as the accounts were included in the discharged bankruptcy.

If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, certified funds for the settlement amount of one hundred, ninety-five dollars, ($195.00) will be sent to Global Payments Check Recovery Services in exchange for full deletion of ALL references regarding this account from my credit files and full satisfaction of the debt. As certified funds will be used for payment, there shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies.

Global Payments Check Recovery Services agrees to delete ALL information regarding this account from the credit reporting agencies WITHIN TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, Global Payments Check Recovery Services will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.

If you agree to the above terms, please prepare a letter on your company letterhead explicitly agreeing to the same terms as the above settlement offer and have it signed by an authorized representative of Global Payments Check Recovery Services. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under the laws of my state.

Your response must be postmarked no later than 15 days from your receipt of this settlement offer or this offer will be withdrawn, as under bankruptcy laws, I am not obligated to pay.

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

I unintentionally had a creditor report an installment loan as disputed recently. I hired a credit repair service and asked them not to dispute a certain negative item. The item was a student loan in which I had a 180 delinquency. It had since been brought current and I specifically asked Lexington Law to not send a duspute letter because it was a title iv student loan that i did not want to dispute and i also felt it was more positive than negative because of the fact that i was current more months than delinquent. They didnt keep their promises .they said they wouldn't however they still did. About 30 days later I received an alert from myfico scorewatch that my equifax score jumped up 20 points because of this item being disputed. I then checked with experian and saw that my score had jumped 37 points with them. I am a little confused because it says in this post that something that shows disputed on a credit report wil have a negative impact. But it didn't in my case so what is the deal?

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

nd9811 wrote:I unintentionally had a creditor report an installment loan as disputed recently. I hired a credit repair service and asked them not to dispute a certain negative item. The item was a student loan in which I had a 180 delinquency. It had since been brought current and I specifically asked Lexington Law to not send a duspute letter because it was a title iv student loan that i did not want to dispute and i also felt it was more positive than negative because of the fact that i was current more months than delinquent. They didnt keep their promises .they said they wouldn't however they still did. About 30 days later I received an alert from myfico scorewatch that my equifax score jumped up 20 points because of this item being disputed. I then checked with experian and saw that my score had jumped 37 points with them. I am a little confused because it says in this post that something that shows disputed on a credit report wil have a negative impact. But it didn't in my case so what is the deal?

If you have SW, then you are looking at an EQ FICO score. If you checked with Experian, then you aren't looking at an EX FICO score because Experian blocked all consumer access to your own EX FICO (though that will change very soon). With that said, ignore the Experian score since it's a FAKO and FAKO scoring factors in stuff that FICO does not and vice-versa.

Backtracking...your EQ FICO increased because a dispute comment was placed on it. Under FICO scoring, FICO will ignore certain aspects of a TL which include your balance, the CL (not applicable here), and the payment history. So, for as long as the dispute comment remains FICO will be artifically propped up because it is ignoring your lates on your SL. Once the dispute comment goes away, then your score will return to where it was, assuming there were no other changes to your EQ CR. I've made it a point that a dispute can harm for many reasons. I won't get into all of those here, but you cited one: a dispute gives a false sense of security because your FICO will drop if the acct is verified by the lender. Also, it is very common for a lender to add lates when they didn't report them before. It's quite common for a lender to underreport, in your favor, "OKs" when there should have been a late. That update can cause your FICO to drop even further than where it was before. Also if the current status is a negative, FICO will often view the baddies as a newer negative because the reported date will update (and sometimes DOLA too), and that will cause an additional FICO drop once the dispute comment goes away. Certainly all of this depends on what, if anything, changes. Who know, maybe it'll change in your favor.

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

Success! I wrote a PFD letter for my daughter for a medical bill. The CA listed it four times on her CR, as they listed each individual bill from the OC. Though it was PFD letter, a check for the full balance due was included. Like much of the advise given, the letter was personal and honest, written from point of view from a college age student. The debt was hers and she knew it, so she paid it and asked to have it removed from the CR's. Today it dropped from Credit Karma (yes I know it is a FAKO, but it is free). Her score jumped 52 points with that gone!

Such a success gives a person the positive feeling to try a few more. I wanted to go one at a time, so we wrote one for her, one for me. Yippee!

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

GSI out of NJ; medical bill... PFD success!!! WOOT WOOT! I called the company and they settled the account for $70 and will delete; also sent email that account is paid in full and will be removing off credit report since the contact information they had was not correct. I talked to Dan Burns; nice guy, willing to help and listen. Great folks to deal with. They will update the credit agency and said it should be done within two weeks!!!

Re: PFD Q&A, Examples, and PFD Success Stories

DO NOT PFD!!!

DV the debt!! I had 4 accounts ( 3 in collection and one previously paid off account.) , two of the collections I had already made payments on when I did a little research. I wrote all of the letters myself and all four accounts were DELETED! They even REFUNDED my payment! The charge off account was totally wiped from my credit report. Now I am free and clear!

Never talk to them over the phone, letters only! Request they do not contact you by phone or this is considered harassment. Being meaningful in your letter and show that you know your rights and what you are able to do if they do not DV the debt

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation.
Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies.
Many factors affect your FICO Scores and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating.
FTC's website on credit.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.